Telephone price war: remembering the telegraph

By Martin Henry

It is an absolute delight to see the dramatic drop in call rates as the telephone companies battle for market under a bit of necessary regulatory guidance by Government. Consumers benefit from the competition.

In the heyday of the telegraph service similar price wars were waged between the international cable companies, as we have documented in the book, The Story of the Telegraph in Jamaica (Arawak Publications, 2013). The two competing companies were the Direct West India Cable Company and the West India and Panama Telegraph Company. Both were located in close proximity on Port Royal Street in downtown Kingston. Very much like today's loader man in the public transport sector, 'agents' of both companies would operate in the streets to lure prospective customers away from the rival company to do business with their company.

The West India and Panama Telegraph Company was established by Sir Charles Tilston Bright and others in 1870 with the specific intention of linking the West Indian islands to Cuba and Colón (Panama) and to the rest of the world. The new company bought out International Ocean Telegraph which only the year before (1869) had provided the first telegraph link between Jamaica and the rest of the world. Domestic service through the network of post offices would not follow for another decade (1879).

Wireless transmission

In 1938, the West India and Panama Telegraph Company became Cable & Wireless (West Indies) Limited, a subsidiary of the UK company of the same name. 'Cable & Wireless' because it transmitted messages by both undersea wire cables, and wirelessly by radio waves from transmitters. Wireless transmission was very much like today's cell-phone service except that receivers were not mobile or personal. Cable & Wireless became the Government-owned JAMINTEL (Jamaica International Telecommunications Ltd) in 1971, morphed into TOJ (Telecommunications of Jamaica), then back to privately owned Cable & Wireless Jamaica Ltd, and is now LIME.

Compared to Cable & Wireless, Digicel and Flow are mere infants in age, but what an impact they have had.

With the maturation of telegraph technology and, of course, the intense competition, prices for the service came down. Just like with the telephones now. Over the first quarter of the 20th century, the cost per word of overseas telegrams or cablegrams fell two- to three-fold.

In 1886, the Handbook of Jamaica recorded that "the charge for telegrams throughout Jamaica is one shilling for the first 20 words and threepence for every additional five words." This sounds tiny in today's money but male labourers' wages were between one shilling and sixpence to two shillings a day, and women nine pence to one shilling.

The last telegram in the world was sent in India on July 14, bringing to an end everywhere the world's first telecommunications technology in operation since the end of the 1830s. Cable & Wireless closed the Jamaica telegraph service on January 31, 2004, made unprofitable by the new technologies and the difficulty of maintaining equipment for which parts were no longer even being made. It was that event which triggered the research for the book, The Story of the Telegraph in Jamaica.

Consumers now watch with delight as the cost of phone services tumble.

Martin Henry is a communication specialist. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and medhen@gmail.com.